The drive for efficiency has put the brakes on the borough council's Gorleston library-based cash office which will shut in April after more than 30 years.

The drive for efficiency has put the brakes on the borough council's Gorleston library-based cash office which will shut in April after more than 30 years.

Officials say the difficult decision was prompted by changes within the library and that the Customer Information Centre (CIC) run in partnership with Norfolk County Council was being beefed up to compensate.

It is hoped the one and half posts at risk can be redeployed.

Jane Beck, customer services manager, said every effort would be made to “ease in” the changes which added up to “quite a drastic saving.”

“It was a difficult decision because of the type of office it is. But when we put the report together it was quite clear that it was the best option with all the different offices people could pay in, and the fact that the customer information centre was already there.”

She said council tax and rent payments could be made at post offices and paypoints and that the CIC would be able to provide balances, organise bus passes and bulky item collections, and provide trade waste sacks.

She said she understood that it was many of the same people who used the service and were on first name terms with staff, enjoying a friendly chat. People, she said, would be helped to understand the changes and find their closest point of contact.

In a letter to the Mercury one of the service users said she was “saddened” to hear of the closure that was only discussed by the council last week. She said: “Obviously I can now go to Yarmouth and add to the traffic problems and parking nightmares to avail myself of the same services I have been denied locally.”